With guest writer: Hampton Wayt
December is a time for celebrations — with family, with friends, with neighbors. It’s a great time to create wonderful memories and traditions.
As we explore our collections here at the Aiken County Historical Museum, we often come across photographs and scrapbooks full of celebrations.
One such scrapbook holds a cherished memory of a family gathered in a living room with a model train and its track circling under the branches of the Christmas tree. How many of you remember a similar experience of waking up to a train racing around presents?
The first toy trains in America were invented in the 1860s. They were made of wood or lead and had no moving parts. By the turn of the century, the models offered add-ons and accessory kits that would ensure the customer’s return. These models were tiny replicas of their counterparts, complete with lighting, smoke, and the signature whistle! By the 1910s, toy trains became a very popular item for children’s wish lists. One such Christmas wish was published in the Aiken Journal and Review on December 12, 1913. In his letter to Santa, Willie Friar of the Landrum School asked for a “toy train and an automobile, and a real good rocking chair 2 oranges and some coconuts, but you bring what you want to and I will be pleased well.” This newfangled toy continued to grow and advance in popularity, and by the 1950s model trains were the number one gift for boys in the United States.
To continue this story, we now hand you over to the Aiken Visitors Center & Train Museum’s Tourism Coordinator Hampton Wayt…
Computer games and the internet have long since replaced the interest in the mechanical choo-choos that at one time were nearly as commonplace as the smartphone is today. Real railroads are rarely utilized for transportation outside of major urban centers in America any more. And yet, you don’t have to be a train fanatic or ever have ridden one to admire and love trains. As Aiken’s holiday campaign proclaims of our beautiful town, “Trains are magical.” In fact, many Aikenites may not realize that trains — not horses — are the reason Aiken was founded. Aiken’s origin, by all definitions, is that of a railroad town!
As legend has it (and evidence suggests this tale is true), it was the love of a woman that spurred Aiken’s creation. The South Carolina Canal & Railroad, the longest railroad in the world at the time it was built in the 1830s, was constructed between Charleston and Hamburg (near North Augusta), South Carolina in hopes that the “Holy City” could steal a large portion of Augusta’s cotton trade away from Savannah. It was this daring plan during railroading’s infancy that helped make South Carolina one of the most technologically advanced states in the Union in the pre-Civil War period.
The railroad was never meant to come through the hilly lands where Aiken now sits. Surveyer Alfred Dexter, who was sent by the South Carolina Canal & Railroad to decide the railway line’s path, had planned to put the tracks south of here where the land is more level. But fate intervened when Dexter fell in love with the daughter of planter William Williams, the man who owned the land where olde Aiken was later built. “No railroad for me, young man, no girl for you,” is what Williams reportedly told Dexter when he asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The two did marry and the railroad did come to Mr. Williams’s property. In 1834, Dexter and another surveyer named Cyril Pascalis laid out Aiken with all of our beloved (and sometimes confusing) one-way streets separated by parkways.
Nine years ago, city leaders recognized Aiken’s railroad heritage when they reconstructed the old Southern Railway train station on Park Ave SE (née Railroad Avenue). Part city visitors center, part train museum, the Depot (as it is often called) features numerous railroad exhibits that are certain to delight all of those who see them. Upstairs, on the second floor, are nine superbly decorated dioramas that show several South Carolina towns that were on the path of the original South Carolina and Canal Railroad line in their 1916 heyday. Several interactive displays explain fascinating trivia about railroads and their contribution to society. For example, “Did the railroad invent Bisquick biscuits? How about time zones?”
Naturally, toy trains are also a prominent part of the City of Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum. The lobby features a large, colorful operating display of replica and original Lionel brand electric model trains. You can even operate them with some instruction from the museum’s docents (lest you derail them!), which is bound to bring back memories for those who remember the era when such toys were commonplace. And for those growing up in this new, digital age, these mechanical playthings offer a type of play that is new and exciting.
Other events at the Depot this holiday season include the Festival of Trees, a display of holiday trees decorated by local organizations and businesses. Visitors can vote for their favorite tree, with the winner receiving a holiday gift basket. The event starts on December 5, 2019 with a trees lighting at 4:00 pm and continues through January 4, 2020 during normal business hours.
The Polar Express movie will be shown on Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2019. A holiday tradition since its release fifteen years ago, the Polar Express is enjoyable for children and adults alike. Shown on the Depot’s back patio, children bring blankets to sit on and stay warm with as they eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate during the movie. Tickets are $5 each and availability is limited.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting the Depot on December 21, 2019 between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. Kids can have their pictures taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and they leave with a small gift box. The event is free.
It might be said that the railroads built America.
They certainly built Aiken
Aiken is Magical. Trains are magical. This is not something that needs to be explained. They just are.
Stay curious!
